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October 7, 2012

Filthy Review - 'Night of the Living Dead' Twilight Time Edition

Night of the
Living Dead (1990) Twilight Time Limited Edition

Review by
Jude Felton

Generally
speaking, when I review a movie, it is the movie itself that I like to review.
I don’t go too deep into the specifics of the release itself, aside from making
mention that a particular Blu-ray looks good or what have you. I might mention
some of the extras included, but for the most part I like to focus on the film
itself; I really don’t have the technical savvy to go into transfers and
picture ratios extra. Some do, I don’t. On this occasion I do believe it is
necessary to address the specific release itself though. I had to, after all
there are only 3000 copies of this release, and it’s already causing a shit
storm.

First off though, I will talk about the film itself. Yes, Night of the Living Dead is a remake of George Romero’s classic film, but as you might have guessed it was not made without any input from Romero; aside from being Executive producer, he did write the screenplay. With this in mind I will tell you that in some respects it is very similar to Romero’s flick, with some shots being virtually identical, yet it does also change some things quite dramatically.

This Tom
Savini directed movie follows Barbara, and her brother (played by the incorrectly
spelled Bill Moseley), as they pay a visit to a cemetery. Before you can say “holy
shit, is that a zombie?” they are accosted by the undead. As they did before,
all roads from here lead to abandoned farmhouses, and Barbara makes it there
despite trashing the family Merc.

Not long
after arriving a stranger also arrives, thus we are introduced to Ben (Tony
Todd), and he takes no time in telling Barbara to get her shit together so that
they don’t fall foul of the corpses outside. Now, if you know Night of the
Living Dead, and you should, you will know that there is a family hiding in the
basement, and here is no different, with Mr. Cooper (Tom Towles) and his wife
and daughter taking refuge down there.

As remakes go
this is definitely one of the better ones; there’s a nice visceral look to the
film, as you might expect from Savini, and Barbara doesn’t spend this film in a
catatonic state. Hell, she kicks ass and takes names! It is honestly a good
film, even without some of the subtleties of Romero’s black and white classic.

This release,
on the Twilight Time label, which was available through Screen Archives, has
already caused a fuss due to its changing of the coloring of the film. Well,
that along with an element of bitterness which some folk have found it hard to
hide. Is the color that bad though? Well, yes and no if I am brutally honest.
There are times when the onscreen action does appear to be a little on the dark
side, and there is a blue tint in a short section of the film, which initially
is a little off-putting. On the flipside, the darker picture does lend to a
heightened sense of atmosphere to the film. Really though, it is all down to
personal preference as to how much these changes, and there are changes, will
affect your viewing pleasure of this release. Although it is darker than some
might remember, the actual quality of the picture is nice and sharp throughout.

As for the
extras included, there are only a couple; there’s the original theatrical
trailer, and isolated score track and an audio commentary from Tom Savini. I
watched the film with the commentary, and it is informative enough. I would
have liked there to have been someone to accompany Savini, to bounce the
conversation back and forth, but Savini’s solo commentary is a good listen.

Overall, I do
like this release of the film. I also own it on DVD and I am not crying about
the changes made. I know it won’t appeal to everyone, but it really isn’t
anything to get too upset about. If you don’t own this version already you will
have to buy it from somewhere like Amazon or Ebay, as it sold out at Screen
Archives before its release date.

Night of the Living Dead was available exclusively through www.screenarchives.com and was limited to 3000 copies.